Toronto-based identity verification platform Confirm officially launched its identity verification product on Wednesday, aimed at making peer-to-peer selling over online marketplaces safer.
Confirm sets itself apart from Trulioo and Certn, who rely on business clients, by targeting the average buyer and seller on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace
Confirm was founded by former Wave CEO Kirk Simpson and early Wave investor Peter Carrescia as Qui Identity in August 2022, less than two months after Simpson stepped down as Wave CEO after leading it to a $537-million CAD exit in 2019.
“I know I don’t do well with idle time,” Simpson told BetaKit at the time.
The startup was immediately armed with $6.5 million in funding for what was essentially just an idea: accelerate the adoption of decentralized identity and make it easier for both consumers and businesses to control how they share their digital information.
Confirm says its newly launched platform allows people to create a verified digital ID, called a ConfirmID, by submitting a headshot and government-issued document, which is then verified by Persona. Users can then create a transaction with their ConfirmID and send it as a link when facilitating an online transaction, which will prove the identity of the buyer and seller without oversharing personal information.
“By helping people be sure that the stranger they’re interacting with is who they say they are, Confirm instantly increases the safety and peace of mind in an online transaction,” Simpson said in a statement.
Originally conceived as a Web3, blockchain-based platform, Confirm built its offering on top of Key Event Receipt Infrastructure (KERI). As Confirm’s senior engineer Jason Colburne explained in a LinkedIn post, KERI is a set of protocols for secure key management that doesn’t require a universal ledger or any shared resource to be a root of trust.
In addition to its central identity features, Confirm offers users the ability to set a transaction’s payment terms and meeting place, as well as Facebook account integrations and verification.
When BetaKit asked Carrescia, who is also Confirm’s head of strategy, about the risks of phishing scams impersonating Confirm links, he said Confirm encourages users to be diligent in the links they click while Confirm works on launching both an iOS and Android app in the coming months.
Because of Confirm’s aim to allow users to “own their identity” Carrescia said the platform “can extend beyond [ID verification] in interesting ways.”
Digital identification verification has had an active year, with Canadian companies Trulioo and Certn making Deloitte’s Enterprise-Industry Leaders and Fast 50 lists, respectively, for their three-year revenue growth rate.
The placement followed Trulioo unveiling capabilities to accelerate person-matching with artificial intelligence in August, while Certn grew its European presence in November by acquiring Trustmatic, a European remote identity verification company.
Confirm sets itself apart from Trulioo and Certn, who rely on business clients, by targeting the average buyer and seller on platforms such as Facebook Marketplace.
“We provide our services only to consumers directly and in a portable [and]reusable way, allowing them to ‘own’ their identity and bring it with them to use wherever they need it,” Carrescia told BetaKit.
Currently free to use, Confirm plans to generate revenue by adding additional fee-based services that users can opt into, according to Carrescia, who added that Confirm will never sell customer data.
Because of Confirm’s aim to allow users to “own their identity” Carrescia said the platform “can extend beyond [ID verification] in interesting ways.”
“We envision a future where Confirm’s verified portable identity, as well as other verified authentic data, will be available to use in online environments and interactions, ranging from social media to financial services, talent management, and commerce,” he said in a statement.
UPDATE (12/14/23): This story has been updated to include additional information and commentary shared by Confirm’s head of strategy Peter Carrescia.
Feature image courtesy Confirm via its website.
